Searching for Rwanda's Famed Mountain Gorillas

Follow along as National Geographic photographer Ronan Donovan hikes through Volcanoes National Park in northwestern Rwanda in search of Dian Fossey’s famed gorillas. Last year, more than 30,000 people hiked into the park to try to get a glimpse of the apes as well as pay respects at Fossey’s gravesite.

Fossey, an American with no experience researching wild animals, arrived in Africa to study mountain gorillas in the late 1960s. By 1973 the population of these great apes in the Virunga Mountains had fallen below 275, but thanks to extreme conservation measures like constant monitoring, intensive antipoaching efforts, and emergency veterinary interventions, there are now about 480.

Fossey was a polarizing figure, but as Jane Goodall, the chimpanzee expert, once said, “If Dian had not been there, probably there might have been no mountain gorillas in Rwanda today.”

Searching for Rwanda's Famed Mountain Gorillas

Follow along as National Geographic photographer Ronan Donovan hikes through Volcanoes National Park in northwestern Rwanda in search of Dian Fossey’s famed gorillas. Last year, more than 30,000 people hiked into the park to try to get a glimpse of the apes as well as pay respects at Fossey’s gravesite.

Fossey, an American with no experience researching wild animals, arrived in Africa to study mountain gorillas in the late 1960s. By 1973 the population of these great apes in the Virunga Mountains had fallen below 275, but thanks to extreme conservation measures like constant monitoring, intensive antipoaching efforts, and emergency veterinary interventions, there are now about 480.

Fossey was a polarizing figure, but as Jane Goodall, the chimpanzee expert, once said, “If Dian had not been there, probably there might have been no mountain gorillas in Rwanda today.”